I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY AND WRITING IN ALL CAPS!!!

01/27/14 OH MY GOSH! GOOD GOLLY! MOLLY! WOW! :) Hi how's it going? So the last time I wrote you it was a little later in the week so I won't have as much to say this week. Maybe. We'll see. I've got 20 minutes left on my computer time so let's DO THIS! I'm in a pretty grood mood right meow and I'm sorry I probably sound like a crazy person. Ok. So. Let's talk about transfers. Transfers are coming up. On the 5th. So this is basically my last week with Sister Phadnis. I finish my 12 week training soon. I just have to memorize the baptismal interview questions and I'm donezo! Do you believe that God is our eternal father? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, the savior and redeemer of the world. Do you believe the church and gospel of Jesus Christ have been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith? Do you believe that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God? What does this mean to you? What does it mean to you to repent? Do you feel that you have repented of your past transgressions? Have you ever committed a serious crime? If so are you on probation or parole? Have you ever participated in an abortion? A homosexual relationship? That's all I got. I still have like 4 more questions. Those last few might be a little off. I memorized them this morning. ANYWAYS. There's a high chance that I will be training this next transfer. One of the STL's came up to me and asked me if I wanted to train. I said NO! "I think that would really fffrewk me ooout." Seriously It stresses me. BUT I did say that if the Lord needed me to train I would and would work really hard and do my best to live up to that calling. She said that the ZL's asked her to ask because they have 22 new missionaries coming in, and not enough trainers. Something like that. So I've already accepted it. :/ But the Lord knows best. And maybe he knows that I would be a horrible trainer and wouldn't put me through that :) maybe. Also we know for sure that Sister Phadnis is leaving not only because she's been in the same area for 6 months, but We asked Sister Bell and she said that she would go home and look at the transfer board. If she was staying she would say, "Toto's in the basket" if she's leaving she wouldn't say anything. She hasn't said anything :) Sister Bell is my favorite :) haha! So yeah. Sister P and I are planning on living this last week UP! :) We were able to see Karen this last week and she says that she just can't believe that there is only one true church. Whatever Karen! :) We plan on visiting her pretty regularly and the relief society is really involved too :) just inviting her and loving her as best as we can :) I still love her and know that she knows the church is true. Oh my time got extended 30 minutes! Awesome! Ok, anyways. We talked about her baptism day and the good feelings felt there and tried to help her remember the peace that she's felt since being a member. So we'll keep working :) Also, Griz. We have been working with him a LOT. We have been a little intense lately so we tried to calm down the lessons and our time with him, so we'll play a game before or after a brief lesson so he won't get as frustrated. Gosh I love him. :) AND Sister Phadnins is an expert at extending commitments! So last night She got him to commit to try to stop drinking coffee for 3 weeks. HE MIGHT GET BAPTIZED EARLY. Because his date that we set isn't until August. But we have been trying to push it up little by little :) So we'll see :) Also, AMANDA. She's our new investigator that we've been working with and she is seriously so golden. She is a blessing to us and is progressing SO FAST. We gave her a book of Mormon like 3 weeks ago and she's already in Alma! What? She's having a hard time understanding everything so we're trying to get her a student manual as a study companion thing :) Ok so we taught her the law of chastity and when we met with her last week she said, hey, I invited my boyfriend over so you can teach him the law of chastity because he doesn't get it. :) hahaha! We also taught them the Word of Wisdom which is like the make or brake lesson and she was already planning on quitting smoking. But coffee was harder. It always is. But she has such faith that girl! she was like, ah it'll be hard but ok I'll do it! And at church yesterday she was just like, I'm so tired!!! haha but she's doing great and loves everything we're saying. She is truly investigating :) Well that's really all I have for you :) There are a lot of other great people but right now those are all I care about. JUST KIDDING I LOVE THEM ALL!!! :D Ok well family, we need to get a new pluming system or something because these floods are getting out of hand :) Well stay positive, be good :) President Bell's favorite Scripture is "Oh be wise what can I say more?" Well I love you all and hope your week is as great as mineeee!!! OK I LOVE YOU BYE Sister Herrin

We're BAAAACCCCKKKK!

It's been a while, It's been a while. How are things? Sorry I didn't mass email last week, things were pretty crazzzy. But everything's good as new again. I'm still in the downtown library sitting next to home needing people, and that's ok. They have a very unique aroma that I'm becoming quite acquainted with :) But life is so good :) I'ma start out with a funny story to lighten the mood. This was number 3 in the top ten bloopers of the week that we send out as a zone. We were teaching Jerry in his apartment and he only has one couch that he's taken up all of the space on because of his broken hip. So we usually will sit on some folding chairs or the ground. But he recently got some exercise balls that are way more fun to sit on than folding chairs :) Well the ball is actually too big/ tall for me and it's harder for me to balance so of course during one of our discussions I start to loose balance and topple off the ball backwards. I was so focused on maintaining my modesty that I didn't notice how close the wall was behind my head. But luckily my shoulder hit before my head did so it wasn't as bad ;) haha! I'm sure it was a sight to see, my short little legs flying in the air! hahah! Jerry sure got a kick out of it. Let's just say I'm not allowed to sit on the exercise balls anymore. Well I feel like I have a LOT to catch ya'll up on :) Griz might move his baptism date up to February, and he's progressing SO much! His heart is still a little hard but Sister Phadnis and I are just a buttering it up real soft :) He doesn't believe in modern day prophets but he likes Joseph Smith. And he thinks the Word of Wisdom is bologna. We have testified about obedience and I even teared up for him, but he doesn't think that Heavenly Father cares if he drinks coffee. His wife told him he was being petty, and he said that we were petty! Haha! He is so stubborn but you know what? I love him. SO MUCH. My heart gets so full when ever I'm around him and I know that it's really Christ's love that I'm feeling. It's so powerful. So you know, we're not too worried. I have faith that he'll eventually get over it :) Steffanie didn't get baptized. She wasn't as committed as we thought and just has a hard time to committing to anything. But we are still working very hard and patiently with her. I honestly feel like I'm here in college hill for Her and for Griz. They mean so much to me and I feel so connected to them. So I'm not giving up on her. It's frustrating because we can never get her to church but we keep praying and we'll keep inviting :) Also I have some really really sad news :/ Karen? The wonderful woman who was baptized a month and a half ago? She called us and said that she doesn't want to be apart of the church anymore. Over new years she was with her family and they were all smoking and she finally gave in at the end of the night and started smoking again. We visited her a few days after and she admitted to it right away. She said that she thought it would fill the emptiness she was feeling but it didn't and she just felt bad about it. She said she would stop. Well a week or so later she's sick with bronchitis and we go to drop off some hot chocolate and a muffin and she's smoking again. She said she knew she was being dumb and that she needed to stop and we prayed with her and everything. I could tell that she was really losing the spirit and her drive. I felt the spirit so strongly to promise her that if she read from the book of Mormon every night she would lose her desire to smoke and God would fill that whole in her heart. She felt the power behind that promise and said she would. Then the next Tuesday she tells us that The church is covering up too many things and that it wasn't true. She asked that we not come by because she didn't want to be talked out of it. It was seriously so hard to hear. I just felt like after all of that, how can you give up? It was very hard, but I still have hope for her. She's got people in the ward who love her and I want to see her in heaven gosh dangit! :) But we asked if we could visit her in a week or two so we should be seeing her soon enough :) Well on a lighter note! Ok kind of :) So my companion and I were having marital issues. We got along so well at the beginning that it was hard to address when things would bother us and we're both bottlers so it just was all waiting to explode. It was really hard and I was tired of dealing with it, but after this last week I'm so glad that I did. We had a nice long long long talk :) And we basically laid everything out on the table and pick out things we could fix and control and other things that we would just have to suck up and deal with. it was very cleansing :) I felt just lighter after the whole thing. I really got to know Sister Phadnis more than I thought I ever would and we have a really good understanding now :) It's great. The Lord has blessed us so much. Thank you for your prayers and everything! I feel so loved and very berry blessed :) I have learned a lot and know that when something like this comes again I'll be able to face it with more confidence. AND there's a sister who's going through something very similar to what we were dealing with and I was able to help her because of it. The Lord knows and loves all of his missionaries. I'm really glad that we get the chance to not only serve the people in Kansas, but also each other. Basically the Lord's a genius and I don't know why I ever question his way. Well thank you for all the love. I seriously have the best family ever. And the best friends :) I can't wait to hear more about your lives and what it's like to be a normal person :) I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love, Sister Herrin P.s. New favorite scripture that totally hit me like a ton of bricks Enos 1:27. I know it's a classic, but wow I just love it right now.

Tender Mercies

01/12/14 My Dear Family, Sorry I didn't have time to send out a big broad email to everyone. Things have been a little crazy here. But it will get better. We ad a lot of cool things happen this week. Even through our trials, the Lord wants to bless us. "But behold, I Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whomever he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." It starts with Amanda. She's a new investigator given to us by the Zone Leaders recent convert who happens to be her uncle. She had seen the change in him and wanted to turn her life around. She's an ex-drug addict and dealer. She's had 4 children, the 1st two with her ex-husband and the 3rd she gave up for adoption and her youngest she had while in jail. The child was born with cerebral palsy and she is doing everything she can to gain back full custody of her daughter. She's been prepared for this gospel! She has so much faith in God and is very open to what we've been teaching. She's pretty solid. Well. We met with her again and she had her dad and her boyfriend over. So we taught them, too. We had planned on teaching the plan of salvation but she says to us, "Okay girls, I have a question for you and I don't want to make you uncomfortable but Imma just gonna say it." And she totally goes into the Law of Chastity! Haha! It was pretty stellar. She just has an earnest desire for truth and is so sincere! Which is awesome! We eventually got the 2 guys to open up and join in the lesson too. It was one of the most golden lessons ever! PLUS, when we followed up on Amanda's Book of Mormon reading, she said she read the 1st chapter. I was a little, like, 'ah that's cool.' I was hoping for a little bit more, but I guess it's better than no reading. However, she then tells us that she read a chapter like how Genesis and Exodus are chapters. So she said she was on Nephi chapter 2, but is really on 2nd Nephi! She had read all of 1st Nephi in just four days! She said she was bored so she read for four hours straight and finished the "first chapter." Haha. She's so awesome! Our 2nd miracle was with a less active named Kathy Hill. We visited her on New Years Eve and got along with her really well. She had lived in Idaho Falls for 10 years! and she is a hair dresser like Sister Phadnis so we had a lot to talk about. But this whole week I was feeling like we should've stopped by. But she lives on the opposite side of everyone we normally visit. We finally just made a special trip to see her Friday and she said, "The Lord just knows when I need you!" and she started to tear up! It's always so fulfilling to be an answer to a prayer and it made our day as well as hers! She had been having a hard time and was feeling lonely and she was afraid that she was going to lose her job. I felt prompted to ask her if we could fast for her, which we did Sunday. She came to church and was so happy and filled and gosh I just love her! Anywho… Sorry I have been such a downer. The days are just so up and down and I need to learn how to sustain my ups through my downs. And GUESS WHAT? I got your package today! It didn't come until later in the day, but when it did I cried. I just love you so much. Thanks for all you do for me. Ok, so I got 3 letters from you today and a package from Kylie and a letter from sara st..saifer? sss something. She's your friend :) and a package from Judy and oh my gosh I love you. Things are so much better. Love , Sister Herrin

Welcome oh ye invited ones!

Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to request access to Sister Herrin's Kansas Wichita Blog. As you can tell, the princess is well pleased. We post her letters and any pictures she sends on Monday evenings! (The best day of the week!)

The Kansas City Blues

This is Sister Herrin's Mom. We got an email this week that I chose not to post to her blog. Instead I want to ask her reader's to please send her a love note this week. She is having a rough time and just needs a hug, and lots and lots of prayers in her and her companion's behalf. This mommy, would sure appreciate it. Kansas Wichita Mission 7011 East 13th Street North Wichita, Kansas 67206-1219